Instead of decoupling and returning to bloc politics, Hungary’s strategic interest lies in increasing connectivity.
Serving as the pope is one of the most demanding of any leadership position; at the same time, life expectancy is high, so the possibility of the resignation of a pope due to illness indeed comes to the fore.
Veszprém-Balaton’s year as European Capital of Culture will be dedicated to creativity, with art, music and gastronomy-related events being at the core of the programmes.
Ukrainians fire as much artillery ammunition in two days as US munitions factories produce in a month—and even so, they achieve only one-sixth or one-seventh the density of fire of the Russian artillery. The question is where the West will draw the line when it comes to feeding the insatiable Ukrainian war machine.
Paradoxically, Communist Béla Kun and the contemporary nationalist racists had more in common in terms of their views than the Communist leader had with the social-democratic and the left-leaning bourgeois émigrés.
Ukraine used to celebrate Orthodox Christmas Day on 7 January, but as a cultural shift away from Russia, Ukrainians are increasingly keen on celebrating Christmas in December.
Without support from the mother country, the fate of small village churches would be sealed, since the local communities have no resources at their disposal to renovate them, and the monument protection policies of neighbouring countries do not focus on these edifices.
On January 1, 2023, border controls were lifted on the Croatian-Hungarian border. As the Croatian seashores are one of the most favourite tourist destinations of Hungarian tourists, Croatia’s accession to the Schengen Zone is great news for Budapest.
As communist ideology considered religion, including Christian faith ‘the opium of the people’, as Karl Marx famously put it, its teachings were labelled harmful—and so was celebrating Christmas as a Christian holiday.
In the 1920s, seaplanes regularly took off the Danube in central Budapest, with passengers travelling on one-off and scheduled flights to several destinations within the country.
During the great show trials of the late 1940s and 1950s, the Communists often held small ‘side trials’, which provided ample opportunity to extract and collect further compromising data and testimonies against the primary targets, as well as to conduct silent showdowns and to set the course for later trials. This is how the Archbishop Grősz trial led to the arrest and imprisonment of some 50 people, including well-known Hungarian monarchists.
As Szentendre is located only a short distance from Budapest, the town is a perfect destination for a day trip—especially during the winter holiday season.
There is a myriad of Christmas carols, some of which come and go, but there is one familiar song that has been consistently among the top favourites of everyone who celebrates Christmas—and that is Silent Night.
The Hungarian comedy The Corporal and the others features a group of Hungarian soldiers who defected and who are bound together by a common objective— to survive World War II. The humorous and entertaining movie full of unexpected twists and turns is a great comedy to watch while preparing for Christmas.
Under the housing scheme, six thousand flats were handed over to families living in wagons in Budapest alone, and nearly two hundred in country towns such as Miskolc.
A 2020 study found that snow during the winter holiday season was the most frequent in the 1930s and the 1960s, while nowadays there are significantly fewer white Christmases in Hungary. The rise in global average temperatures is most likely behind this phenomenon.
To mark the visit of the Spanish royal family in 1908, one of the most respected architects of the time, Géza Maróti, designed a monumental, yet temporary triumphal arch—the grand procession passed through this arch, then after crossing the Chain Bridge, it arrived to its final destination at the Buda Castle.
‘The reconstruction of the palace under the Rákosi and Kádár eras ruined a nearly thousand-year-old tradition, inflicting a wound on the inner strength that unites our community, on our self-confidence and on our physical heritage.’
Just as some Christians had trouble accounting for their role in the 1918 Aster Revolution and the 1919 Communist coup d’état, some Jews also had difficulty facing their former position in terms of these events.
The drama set in December 1944 under the Arrow Cross rule in Budapest presents viewers with a thought-provoking moral dilemma about the importance of human dignity.
Zadar was a Western Christian town with a rich history, and at that time it was once again under the authority of Emeric (Imre in Hungarian), King of Hungary (1196–1204), who himself had taken the crusader’s vow.
Muslims do have an incredible veneration for the Mother of Jesus, as expressed in Persian art. However, there are two ‘Marys’: the Blessed Mother of Christ, and Maryam (Miryam), the prophetess of the Old Testament.
The world-famous Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, and creator of the Kodály method was born 140 years ago on this day.
There is little political will on the part of the European left-wing parties to speak out against dangerous ideas. They often have their eye on winning the ‘Muslim vote’, and as a result, they are reluctant to engage in confrontation.
In a referendum on 14 December 1921, the town of Sopron voted to remain part of Hungary, for which it has been celebrated as the town of loyalty and freedom ever since.
The Indo-Pacific is not only a geographical region but a strategic concept as well. The stability and the prosperity of the countries in the Indo-Pacific depend on the freedom and the order in the region. The elephant in the room is China.
The majority of the refugees were intellectuals, mostly from Transylvania, followed by those from what is Slovakia, Serbia and Austria today, but there were also some who fled to Hungary from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Nativity plays and nativity scenes are an integral part of Hungarian Christmas traditions.
Hungarian Christmas markets regularly make it to the top of European rankings as the country prepares for the festive season.
It is a unique Hungarian Christmas tradition to decorate the Christmas tree with szaloncukor or ‘parlour candies’. This delicious Christmas treat is inseparable from the festive season in Hungary.